Saturday, October 23, 2010

Chasing it

I have been making some attempts to help my dears figure out how to chase their education. That is what I say to the oldest two here, "Chase it". We start each day with our stomachs of course and then some panic kitchen clean-up, followed by catechesis and hoping no one has a break down in the middle of it. The next stop is reading out loud to them for awhile, followed by mandatory math for everyone. With math I set a timer and they have to complete it in that time or will be sent to bed early as there is no reason math should take all day. We try to keep track of how long math took each day so they stay on track. Because of limited time, we have been skipping the reading out loud part this last week, but I really don't want to skip it. If the day is good, everyone proceeds to grammar, their own reading, and some Science. Fitting Benjamin into all this is tricky as I seem to lose him or the rest of them with an interruption like paying attention to just one kid!!!! So my goal is to snag that kid over breakfast or reel him in at bedtime.

Consequences for not chasing it are an early bed time and absolutely NO internet. The internet is only allowed after the sweet darlings come to Charley or I and convince us it is okay for them to get on it. So.......they have to chase it if they want it. I have found this is working pretty effectively for the oldest ones. Now the trick will be remembering this is the rule. They know how to play me. If I can get three of these days in for sure then I know it has been a good week. It doesn't always happen. I am holding to that wonderful advice I heard years ago of lowering my expectations and then I won't be so dissatisfied and frustrated with them. It is nice to see they are making any progress at all. I think they are also seeing the benefits of chasing it too. They are seeing the error of neglect too. Sigh. Plug along and don't think too hard about it and we will be happier! I won't push them out the door into the passing bus this way either. I find it humorous that homeschooled kids have a fascination with school buses. If only they really knew what creeps into their parent's thoughts.